Egypt blast cuts natural gas supply to Jordan

AMMAN - An attack against a gas pipeline in Egypt led to the complete halt of its natural gas supply to Jordan, the state-run Petra news agency reported Thursday.

The energy-poor kingdom, which imports about 96 percent of its energy needs annually, will resort to using alternative fuel to generate power, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Qutaibah Abu Qura said Thursday.

Tuesday's sabotage is the seventh of its kind since the beginning of this year, said the minister.

Jordan's power stations will switch to using alternative heavy fuel for production, said the minister, adding that alternative fuel reserve is sufficient for 30 days only.

Jordan is coordinating with the Egyptian authorities to ensure the resumption of gas supply as soon as possible, said the minister.

The daily cost of generating power based on heavy fuel and diesel is estimated at about three million Jordanian dinars (about $4.5 million).

Over the past three years, about 80 percent of power generated in the kingdom relied on the Egyptian gas. In 2010, Jordan imported about 239 million cubic meters of gas from Egypt.